


One for Sorrow

by BtsSugaTrash



Category: Naruto
Genre: ANBU - Freeform, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Iruka is ANBU, M/M, Slow Burn, Violence
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-10
Updated: 2018-08-10
Packaged: 2019-06-25 13:24:50
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,336
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15641640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BtsSugaTrash/pseuds/BtsSugaTrash
Summary: Iruka, a respected member of ANBU, is assigned an all too important mission pertaining to a certain infamous Jonin, but things just never go as planned for Umino Iruka.





	One for Sorrow

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is my first Kakashi x Iruka story, and I just wanted to put this out there to see if I should continue it. It's a bit different then what I usually write, but I've had a lot of fun with this so far! Let me know what you think.

“Crow, you take the south side. Wait for the signal.” Cat ordered his team quiet yet authoritatively, leaving no room for objection. Nodding, Crow waited until Cat had directed Hawk and Bear until leaping from where they sat crouched on the high tree branch, all scattering in unison. Wind whipping through his loosely tied hair, Crow got in position on the south, masking his chakra completely without a second thought. He lay in wait.

 

Crow wasn't new to ANBU, being tattooed into the special forces years ago, earning his reputation through bloodshed and ruthlessness. He himself has been a team leader on multiple occasions, but as it goes in ANBU, there were no set ranks, only having a hierarchal system based upon respect and seniority, hence why Cat was team leader on this mission. Not that Crow minded, he actually preferred not to lead. Then when someone on his team was killed, he’d feel less responsible.

 

Cold as he was, Crow had caught the attention of more then a few fascinated shinobi and civilian alike who looked up to ANBU with awe and aspiration in their eyes. They saw Crow as a fearless defender of Konoha, a strong shinobi who could take down any foe he faced. Thus spawned the little motto that everyone spoke when referring to him, those three words following his persona as if a compliment.

 

‘ _One for sorrow’_

 

Deriving from an old nursery rhyme that used to be passed through clan families for their children, such a tale was now used to define Crow. Despite originating from being about Magpies, there weren’t any to be seen in Konoha, so the rhyme had evolved to center around something aplenty in Fire Country. Crows. As the rhyme went, one crow was said to bring sorrow. As Crow began his rise to fame, people began jokingly comparing his brutal style to their beloved nursery rhyme, claiming Crow brought sorrow to all he faced. Eventually, it caught and became less of something said by Academy children spreading rumours and into what it was today, his very identity. Crow, one for sorrow.

 

Sensing a burst of chakra flare under his skin at his upper arm, Crow’s muscles tensed suddenly as he sprang up from his crouch at the signal flare, leaping forward like a predator attacking its prey. Taking the guards by surprise, he downed three shinobi by the time they thought to react. In a matter of two minutes, he fell the remaining five shinobi with Taijutsu alone before taking off at a dead sprint into the nearest window. As trained, he tried to avoid using any ninjutsu or flashy weapons that would identify him outside of his mask, only resorting to such when necessary.

 

Inside the complex, he sent out low, almost untraceable pulses of chakra, reaching out for his teammates. Feeling their familiar chakra signatures all inside the building, Crow immediately took off through the darkened halls in search of their target. Only encountering a total of seven more shinobi on his way, he finally came face to face with Hawk who seemed to be favouring his right side. Crow himself was hiding a limp he earned from a certain earth release, but it was an insignificance on such a mission, something easy to hide. Hands flashing through familiar signs, he made sure Hawk was watching.

 

_Target. Where._

 

Konoha’s silent short hand was just that. Short. It only covered basic words needed on a mission, not a fluid language like actual sign language. It was enough so your team could understand what you meant, and that’s as far as it went. Simple questions and commands.

 

_Chakra. Undetected. Find. Together._

 

Nodding at Hawk’s reply, they started at the first door they found and simply worked down from there. Since their target was ANBU level, they most likely had the ability to hide their chakra fairly well, making even a team of ANBU unable to detect him in a building this size. About ten minutes later, despite neither one reacting, both Hawk and Crow felt the familiar burn on their skin, knowing the other had felt the same. They knew what that meant. Mission complete, head back to the meet up area. Nodding in each others direction, they silently slipped out the nearest window and went southeast until approaching their makeshift meet up area on a wide branch. Cat and Bear were spreading waiting there.

 

“Report.”

 

Posture straightening, Crow replied in a clipped, official tone. “Fifteen missing-nin, all confirmed kills. I met up with Hawk and searched the location for the target after unable to sense their chakra. We took down three more missing-nin before being summoned back here.”

 

A deep, commanding voice spoke from beside Crow, portraying the same brisk tone. “Eleven confirmed before meeting up with Crow. All went smoothly.”

 

Nodding, Cat began to turn and seemed almost ready to call retreat when he paused, once more facing his team. “Injury’s?”

 

“Minimal.” Crow responded, masking his surprise at the question as Hawk nodded his agreement.

 

“Good.” Turning, Cat jerked head. “Mission complete. We’ll return to the village in three days time. We move in formation C, Crow you flank right, Hawk will flank left. I’ll lead. Move out.”

 

And just like that, they were off at ANBU speeds through the thin trees of the boarder of Fire Country. They paused only for rest in turns, four hours for each pair while the other stood guard. They survived on water they found in a nearby stream and ration bars when they knew their teammates weren’t looking. Not that it was against the rules. Actually, you could only reveal your face to other ANBU members, it was just well known that there were some that didn’t like to, and everyone in the organisation respected that privacy.

 

Three days later found the four shinobi team at the gates of their village, bypassing the guards and not letting up speed as they raced over the rooftops towards the Hokage’s tower. They were invisible to civilians at this speed, unseen to pre-genin and genin alike, too fast to catch most Chuunin’s eyes, a blur even to some Jonin, a common occurrence to ignore to all the secret ANBU members out of uniform. Approaching the tower, they landed on the ground and made their way up into the mission room. Most members took to entering through the window or teleporting in, but everyone knew that Cat liked to go in how every other shinobi did. The door.

 

Such common place for ANBU was mostly unseen for most, hence the gawking from some of the shinobi who came to get their missions, especially the fresh new genin who may have never really seen an ANBU member. Crow ignored all of them, just simply keeping his eyes ahead as he made his way through the semi-crowded room and to the Hokage office door. Watching as Cat nodded to the two hidden ANBU guarding the door, he knocked and respectfully waited until he heard the brusk, “Come in!”

 

Entering, Crow held in his laughter with ease, despite just how comical the situation was. Tsunade sat at her desk, fingers rubbing circles into her temples and eyes closed as two elder members of the council sat across her desk, seeming to be arguing about one thing or another. Opening her eyes to their team, a smile fitted over her lips. “I’m sorry Homura-san, Utatane-san, but as you can see, my ANBU is here on very important business. I’m afraid this will have to wait for a later date, thank you for bringing this to my attention.” As she spoke, she stood and walked over to the two bemused council members, ushering them to stand and head for the door. “I’ll be sure to have my best shinobi look into it,” She finished with a slam of the door, effectively shutting the door on the two council members faces. Sighing, Tsunade made her way back to her chair and slumped in it.

 

“Damn old farts.”

 

Respectively, the four ANBU members stood in wait silently as their Hokage leaned forward, sighing once more before looking up at the team with a seriousness in her gaze. “Report.”

 

It was something all ANBU had perfected, reporting to the Hokage. ANBU couldn’t leave a paper trail of their missions, too much sensitive top secret information. Therefore, they were required to give detailed, thorough reports verbally with no mistakes, making their words clear and concise, an art quickly perfected by the members. After Cat finished detailing their mission, Tsunade simply nodded with a, “Good work Cat-san, Hawk-san, Crow-san, Bear-san. You’re dismissed until called for again.”

 

Politely bowing and dismissing themselves, the team went their separate ways without another word. Bear and Hawk teleported away to who knows where while Cat and Crow took to taking the door. In the same respect as Cat, Crow liked to take the door as any shinobi would. This was actually one of the reason’s Crow and Cat became somewhat friends. In headquarters, they’d laugh and joke together, went on missions together when free, even trained together. But that’s where their friendship ended. They knew each other as Cat and Crow respectively, but by no other name. It wasn’t as if they were opposed to the idea, but each shinobi had their own reason for keeping that thin barrier.

 

While he didn’t know Cat’s reason, Crow knew his own. When he was Crow, he wasn’t who he was in his everyday life outside of ANBU. When he put on his mask, he put on the facade known as Crow, able to kill efficiently and quickly without remorse. He bathed himself in the blood of his enemy’s as the silent killer instinct in him commanded in order to aide and protect the village with everything he had. He could seal his emotions and just become Crow, one for sorrow.

 

Exiting the building, he bid Cat a slight nod which he knew the man caught before teleporting himself. It was common for ANBU as to remain anonymous, no one able to trail them home. Appearing in his home with a slight pop, Crow checked over his wards before silently making his way to the bedroom. Stripping off his armour first, he threw open the hidden chest in this closet and threw in the metal pieces with a few loud _clinks_. He’d clean the blood off of them later. His black arm pieces shed along with his sandals, Crow finally reached up and pulled off the white mask, throwing it in with his armour. Along with the mask, he took off his persona, Crow the emotionless killing machine, and allowed his own self to come back to the surface.

 

Shaking his hair out and cringing at the dried blood that flaked out of it, he quickly shed his standard ANBU black pants and skin tight shirt and made his way to the bathroom. Adjusting the temperature to a nice in-between temperature, not scalding, but not freezing, just slightly cool. He stepped in the spray and let out the sigh he’d been holding in for days. Taking his time cleaning himself and scrubbing away the mud, grime, and blood, he worked the shampoo into his hair slowly. He hadn’t been able to shower in a week, so he planned on making it last. Twenty minutes later found him turning the water off and reaching blindly for his towel.

 

Drying off his skin and toweling off his hair slightly, he wrapped the fluffy white towel around his waist and stepped out, finally getting a look at himself in the mirror. He looked exhausted. He took note of the bags under his eyes, the way his cheeks almost sunk in, his hair mangled despite being cleaned.

 

Umino Iruka looked rough.

 

Grunting, he took to running a comb through the knots, slowly but surely working them out of the tangled mess on his head. It was the main reason he hated not wearing his tight ponytail, but that was a bit too distinguishable to wear when he was Crow. Finally able to run the comb smoothly through his hair, he made his way out of the bathroom and back into his bedroom, pulling out a simple pair of well worn shinobi blacks, their rough material washed and dried enough to feel much softer. It was his clothing of choice to wear casually around the house.

 

Slipping into the black pants and long sleeve, Iruka finally reached up and gathered his hair into a high pony, finally feeling much more like himself. Feet padding out into the kitchen, he allowed a stretch above his head as he made his way to the fridge. Throwing open the door, he frowned when he saw the contents. A bottle of mustard, expired milk, and three bottles of beer. Okay, so not great. Scouring his cabinets, he sighed exasperatedly upon only able to find a package of ramen and a half empty bottle of cooking oil. He contemplated just skipping dinner when he heard his stomach loudly protest with a growl. Resigning himself, he made his way back into his room and threw on his usual blue long sleeve with matching pants, his Chuunin vest fitting on over the stiff uniform.

 

So much for relaxing in comfy clothes.

 

On his way out, he grabbed his hitai-ate, tying it onto his forehead while slipping on his blue sandals. Shoving his wallet into his pocket and his stocked weapon pouch around his right leg, Iruka left, securing his wards as he went. First grocery shopping, then food, and then relaxing in his comfy clothes. Walking through the bustling streets of Konoha, Iruka found his mind wandering as he absentmindedly waved and smiled at the shinobi and civilians alike that spared him a greeting.

 

It still felt weird knowing that no one knew Iruka was actually the respected Crow. It was misinformation to think only Jonin could become ANBU, Iruka himself only being a Chuunin. Most didn’t think a Chuunin could be strong or skilled enough to become part of the elite ANBU and didn’t even think that any member of such organisation was anything but Jonin in their everyday life. But Iruka proved that thought wrong, even if no one would ever know. He’d actually been recruited right after Naruto graduated from the Academy, Hiruzen deeming him fit to train and become a member of the elite after hearing how he protected Naruto from his friend Mizuki. While Iruka was doubtful, and more than unwilling to leave his position as Academy sensei, Hiruzen made him a gamble he couldn’t pass up.

 

Iruka would train with a trusted member of ANBU over the summer break at the Academy. If by the end of the summer he was able to prove himself capable and willing to join ANBU, he could join and remain a substitute teacher at the Academy for when he was in-between missions. Accepting, he began training with Tiger, the only member to even realise he was at least in the running of becoming ANBU. After the summer months it became quite clear to Iruka that this was what he wanted. He had always wanted to prove to himself that he could still protect the village, that he wasn’t the weak Chuunin Academy sensei that everyone thought he was. While he loved being an Academy sensei, he knew this was something he wanted for himself, especially since he would still have the opportunity to teach when he wasn’t out on a mission.

 

Ever since that summer, he’d steadily climbed his way up and became a respected, well-known member of ANBU, earning his persona in plenty of bingo books and having a warning attached to said persona. Crow, one for sorrow. Now, with Naruto off training with Jiraiya, he was able to have much more time to take ANBU missions without the fear of being caught by the Uzumaki who had decided to half live at his house. Not that Iruka minded, but it did make the whole secrecy thing difficult when he had an in house shinobi who knew no bounds of privacy.

 

That was just over two years ago when Naruto left, and since then, Iruka’s life has been noticeably more lonesome. Many would look at Iruka and deem him a happy, lucky individual. An Academy substitute teacher who loved his job, a Chuunin able to take C and B class missions that paid well, and had a well respected reputation in the village where everyone knew him and would wave to him on the streets. On the exterior, Iruka was living a white picket fence kind of life.

 

But when you looked underneath the underneath, Iruka’s life was quite the opposite. His basically adopted brother left for who knows how long, his parents and any family were long gone, he had a whole secret life of killing hundreds as an ANBU operative, everyone saw him as a weak Chuunin who couldn’t even make it as an Academy sensei, and all those people that waved at him were just that. They didn’t ask Iruka how he was, didn’t know anything more then what they heard from others around the village, and didn’t care to know anymore. His only friends were ones he never saw, and even then, he didn’t feel like he could exactly confide in them. 

 

Iruka was falling deeper and deeper into a pit of misery, but no one knew that. He wore his polite smile and laughed when appropriate, and no one seemed to care enough to ask questions if sometimes that smile seemed strained and his laugh sounded fake.

 

Yanking himself right out of those spiralling thoughts, Iruka shook his head as he approached the store. There was no sense of thinking of such things when there was nothing he could do about it. That was just the way things were. Letting out a ghost of a sigh, Iruka made his way around the store, slowly pilling up his basket full of food. It didn’t even take a full twenty minutes before he was checking out, bags lining each of his arms. Huffing, he juggled the precarious bags as he quickly made his way down the street. Since when did he live so far away?

 

Finally making it back to his apartment, he attempted to shift the bags in order to grab his keys, but ended up just dropping all the bags on one of his arms. Glaring at the offending pile of food, he just hoped that the eggs weren’t in any of those bags as he fished out his key and threw open the door. Throwing the bags onto his table, he ran back and picked up the bags outside in the hallway before closing door and starting to put away all the recently purchased food. He had no idea when his next mission would be, but since it was usually at least a good four days before he usually got called out again, he figured he could get through most of this so it wouldn’t go to waste. ANBU was always in short supply, so they utilised their forces as much as possible.

 

It was when he was taking the pot off the stove, his dinner finally done, that he saw a black blur at the corner of his vision. Eyes darting to the window as his body tensed, he found himself easing at the sight of a murder of crows. Smiling wryly, he couldn’t help when his mind immediately started counting them. ‘Five, huh?’ He thought to himself.

 

Five for silver.

 

Snorting slightly to himself, he finished serving his dinner into a bowl as his tea screamed at him that it was ready. Maybe he’d be getting some money his way soon. The smile that had made its way to his face suddenly dropped as his upper arm suddenly burst in heat, a light burning sensation spreading over the covered tattoo that lay beneath his shirt.

 

He was being summoned.

**Author's Note:**

> By the way, here is the nursery rhyme i'm talking about.
> 
> One for sorrow  
> Two for mirth  
> Three for a wedding  
> Four for a birth  
> Five for silver  
> Six for gold  
> Seven for a secret never to be told  
> Eight for a kiss  
> Nine for a wish  
> Ten for a bird you must not miss


End file.
